To all who have viewed this story and reviewed it, thank you. I plan on throwing my own characters in this soon, as well as trying to make our leads a bit more realistic in a sense. I look forward to all your comments. Thank you for reading!

Only the teacher cast a disapproving glare at her as Bella slid inside the classroom: everyone else only shot her a curious glance. Normally, if a person wanted to find Bella Swan all they had to do was look for Edward Cullen as the "man" practically hovered over her every moment. To see the two of them come into class separately was…unusual. Bella kept her eyes down as she sat behind their desk, notebook laid out before her. Her palms felt clammy, her heart started to race in a mixture of anxiety and fear. She knew Edward was looking at her but Bella didn't want to look at him at the moment.

"Bella," Edward whispered and she felt the slightest touch at her elbow. She cast a glance in his direction and their eyes met. "Is something wrong?"

Bella bit her bottom lip. "Nothing," she whispered back as she turned her attention to the front of the classroom again. They were talking about dissections- frogs this time? She could hear Edward's soft chuckle: sensuous in his dark, mysterious, sexy way.

"You're a horrible liar Bella," he whispered and his voice took on a tone more serious. "Please Bella, Don't lie to me."

Bella licked her lips, for the first time noticing how dry and cracked they were. "I…I don't think you want to know just yet Edward," she whispered back. A girl cast a curious look in their direction and Bella looked down at her desk, at her hands.

"Isabella," Edward said in a tone more akin to chiding a child than anything else, as if she had to face him. That was what struck Bella as the worst of it- the fact he didn't even want to treat her as an equal anymore. At least when she had asked Jasper for his help, the blonde hadn't used a chiding sort of tone. And Jasper Hale had the facial expression range of an Easter Island Head. "Tell me. Now. It won't do you any good to get upset will it?"

Bella turned to face him and lifted her chin up ever so slightly. Her hands curled into fists. "Edward…I want to break up." She watched his face change- from confusion to shock to something Bella couldn't quite place. He looked… flabbergasted ….might be a better word. He opened his mouth and then closed it before he opened it again, reminding Bella of a fish gasping for air.

"B-But Bella! Something horrible could happen to you! Can't you see? I watch over you because I love you!" His voice had risen a notch, causing more students to cast the two of them curious looks.

Bella leaned forward, unable to keep the irritation out of her voice. "And can't you see that I have no freedom? I've made it the past seventeen years without you Edward. I don't think I'll die within the next twenty four hours."

"Miss Swan, is there anything you wanted to share with the class?" Mr. Banner asked and Bella immeadtily bit her lip, unable to keep her tell from showing. She shook her head as their biology teacher glanced over to Edward. Her former boyfriend looked as if he was made of stone: unmoving, hands clenching the desk top. "Mr. Cullen?" their teacher ventured.

"No sir," Edward replied through slightly clenched teeth. Mr. Banner nodded before he turned around to write on the dry erase board at the front of the room, though it was clear he didn't believe the two of them.

Edward leaned over to her and Bella began to chew her bottom lip, suddenly nervous again. Her heart was beginning to pound in her chest and she focused on her hands, wringing her fingers together. "Why Bella?" he asked. She could hear his voice, dripping with pain, as he whispered in her ear. "I love you."

Because you scare me. I can't breathe anymore around you- you watch me all the time. I can't even drive to school by myself anymore because you might have disabled my truck. I have almost no independence now. The constant talk of how you're a monster and then you ask how I could ever want to be with you. That may lead to suicide Edward…Suicide! And how many times have you apologized for hurting my feelings, saying how you'll never do it again…and you do.

"Bella?" Edward's voice was getting louder again and this time Bella had no doubt her classmates were listening in on this conversation. "Bella why are you breaking up with me? Don't you love me anymore?"

Bella took a deep breath to steady herself. "I…used too," she whispered and forced her eyes to look from her hands to his beautifully sculpted face, to those eyes she had come to adore, to the vampire she had once loved so passionately.

"Then why?" Edward demanded, his voice rising.

" !" Mr. Banner snapped but Edward paid him no mind. He was rising out of his chair, towering over her, pain etched across his face.

"Edward stop it," Bella whispered and kept her eyes down cast. She could hear someone whispering in the back: the rumors were already going to fly. Edward Cullen and Bella Swan having a lovers' quarrel. The sudden realization of what she was doing made her skin crawl. This was to be the end of both of them…and somehow in this madness, Bella had become the more logical one. No longer had the "adorably furious kitten" and…she wanted to cry now. Bella wanted to sob her heart out with every passing moment.

"Just tell me Bella. Tell me why!"

" !" Banner's voice thundered. Bella tried to blink away the tears but one rolled down her cheek.

"Bella!"

Bella jumped to her feet, sending her chair shrieking across the freshly waxed floor. The movement was so fast that she sent the chair clattering to the floor and Edward actually reared back slightly in surprise. "You scare me Edward!" Bella yelled, focusing not on his face but at the hollow of his throat. Her cheeks felt on fire, her vision blurring. "There! Are you happy now?"

"Both of you stop this!" their teacher boomed but there was no need. At Bella's outburst, Edward sank back into her chair as if he had been struck, his face a mixture of emotions: anger, sorrow, confusion, hurt.

Oh God, she thought to herself as she took a step backwards. Just kill me now.

But God wasn't listening today. The silence that had settled over the classroom was uncomfortable to say the least, horrifying at best. "Swa-" Mr. Banner began even as Bella backed away from her desk, from her class. She spun around and ran out of the room, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, her vision nearly blinded by the tears that flowed down her cheeks. She knew their teacher wouldn't let Edward follow- not after that outburst. But what would come tomorrow? Her shoes pounded against the floor as she went to the nearest door she could find and she tried the knob.

Bella swung the door open wide to reveal a janitorial closet: the rank stench of different chemicals almost made her recoil but if there was any place that might provide temporary sanctuary from her supernatural vampire, it was a small closet stocked to the brim with chemicals that might cover up her scent. She pushed her way inside, knocking over a few packages of toilet paper as she struggled to shut the door. Darkness enveloped her as she heard the blessed sound of the door clicking, locking.

Bella was safe.

She slid down to the floor as best as she could, her shins knocking into what must have been a mop of some sort and cans clanged against each other as she brought her knees up to her chest to cry. How had it all come down to this? "I hate this," Bella whimpered as she sniffled. "I hate this so much."

A soft snort from the other side of the door made Bella jump. Had Edward really talked his way out of class? She stiffened at the idea; there was no way this door could keep her from him then. "Hn," a deep, familiar voice murmured. "So you do have a backbone. I'm impressed."

Bella wiped at her eyes, peering up at the darkened shape of the door handle.

Jasper?